Man, 18, killed in shooting

CERES — An 18-year-old man was killed early Sunday after a disturbance at a house party in central Ceres, law enforcement officials said.

The man, identified by the Stanislaus County coroner's office as Michael Ilttreb of Keyes, was taken to Doctors Medical Center after he was shot at 2:04 a.m. He was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later, Ceres police Detective Sgt. Jeff Higginbotham said.

The shooting happened near the 3000 block of Tenth Street, Higginbotham said.

As of Sunday morning, detectives did not have any suspects, Higginbotham said, though Ceres police were looking at "a number of people."

More than 100 people were in the area around the time of the shooting, Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department spokesman deputy Royjindar Singh said.

Neighbor Maria Vizcarra was one of them. She lives in the 2700 block of Pyramid Avenue, around the corner from Tenth.

Vizcarra said she came home from work about 2 a.m. "Two seconds" after she tried to fall sleep, she heard the sound of gunshots, so she went outside.

"I saw everybody running, screaming," she said. "I didn't know why."

She went inside and realized her 16-year-old son wasn't home. Worried, she went outside again. That's when she saw the teenage victim lying on the sidewalk surrounded by paramedics and friends.

She didn't know the victim, but watched as rescue workers tried to resuscitate him. Police held Vizcarra and many others in the street until 5 a.m., she said, while they conducted interviews.

Sunday afternoon, several young men who would identify themselves only as friends of the deceased, sprayed water over the sidewalk where their wounded friend had waited to be taken to the hospital.

A "stray bullet incident" killed Ilttreb, said a young man who lives nearby.

"All I know is that I lost one of my homies last night," he said. "That's all I can say about that."

Bee staff writer Christopher Caskey contributed to this article.

Bee staff writer Emilie Raguso can be reached at eraguso@modbee.com or 578-2235.